Rainbow Kitten Surprise: Rising band delivers another captivating Boston concert

If you attended Boston Calling this past May, you may have strolled past the Delta Blue stage to find a peculiar sounding band with a crowd reaching the outskirts of the turf. Rainbow Kitten Surprise seemed to pop up out of nowhere and completely dazzled everyone with their haunting harmonies and heartfelt performance.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise performed at the House of Blues Sept. 17. Even though their crowd at Boston Calling was massive, it was unsure how big of a crowd they would drum up on a Tuesday, especially on a night where the Red Sox were playing at home. However, it was beyond shocking that the line to get in reached the corner of Lansdowne Street and Brookline Ave.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise put on a lively set at Boston Calling, so it was interesting to see how they would translate the same show to fit a different venue and crowd. Usually when artists tour festivals, if they’re not a headlining act, their show is entirely different from an album tour. Lighting patterns are changed, songs are cut from the lineup to accommodate the time slot they’re given, and the general atmosphere is different. Many festival-goers jumping from set to set may only know one or two songs by the artist, so the crowd engagement may not be as exciting as it would be if they were headlining their own tour. But that didn’t seem to be the case Tuesday night.

Since they were signed to Elektra Records, an American record label under WMG’s Atlantic Records Group specializing in contemporary folk music in 2018, this North Carolinian indie rock band has been quickly riding “First Class” on the road to fame.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise, although they were signed relatively recently, has been on the big stage since 2013. If you’ve ever seen them live, you’ll notice they aren’t newbies when it comes to working a crowd and delivering a heartfelt show. Suffolk senior Madison Mignola has seen the band three times, and looks forward to their performance every time.

“They are so energetic and lively. The energy in Sam [the lead singer] is palpable. At each show I’ve seen, his energy is through the roof,” Mignola said in an interview with The Suffolk Journal. “He jumps everywhere on stage, and interacts with his band just as much as he is with the audience…it’s incredible!”

Before the show even started, it was easy to be taken aback by the beauty of the set. The bright rainbow spotlights on stage mixed with incense-scented fog caused everyone to go absolutely crazy, something different from their set at Boston Calling. There were chatters of excitement and scattered screams while the band’s stage crew microphone checked, but once the lights dimmed on the house and the rainbow spotlights turned scarlet red, every Rainbow Kitten Surprise fan lost their mind.

Throughout the entire show, Rainbow Kitten Surprise captivated everyone from strip lights beating in time with the drums with different colors, to lead singer Sam Melo’s energetic dancing to the entire band’s onstage chemistry. Besides the out of this world showmanship during the performance, the music was incredible. The harmonies between Melo, bassist Charlie Holt and guitarists Darrick “Bozzy” Keller and Ethan Goodpaster was enough to send chills up spines and goosebumps down arms.

The entire performance as a whole was as riveting as it was visually pleasing, and it’s not surprising how fast they’ve been able to create a “Fever Pitch” in the indie rock scene.